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One thing every day for 100 days.. how hard can it be? Well, not too hard as I've signed up for the same thing for a second year.

I've learnt that it has to be something really easy and quick to do - the longer it takes and the harder it is, the greater the possibility that you won't complete the 100 days and drop out along the way. And me being compulsive and a wee bit driven find it really hard to say I've lost the battle.. competitive I think, is what some people might describe it.

So I handmade a book with exactly 100 spreads and decided to do some drawing on each spread, then add some acrylic paint in watercolour technique and Bob's your uncle, not mine ;-) To make it a little more interesting I decided to start drawing a line and then close my eyes, keep going, and then try to end on the exact spot where I started, eyes still closed. Then I would open me eyes, study the line, add some more drawing and then some colour. I tried to visit the colours of the…

October is proving to be a busy busy month what with three paintings on 'commission' and an Art Swap to run. On top of that I've signed up again for the 100 Days Project as I did last year - don't know why I do this to myself - but what fun it's been!

I've done some work on one of my 'recycled' paintings, acrylic work done on an older oil painting called 'home' ;-) - here is a one minute slideshow of the process so far.

And yes, I like to recycle things as consumerism is hurting this earth.. need to recycle, reuse, refuse refuse ;-) small footprint and all that
thanks for watching
erika

had fun making a quick slideshow of the progress of this painting, it's almost finished, but will leave the final work for the gallery to reveal ;-)

Big show coming up in Hamilton, New Zealand on 5-6 September 2014 and I have five works packed to courier. This is the first time for such a grand scale art show in Claudelands Events Centre, Hamilton - all the best for a great turnout The Art Sale !

starting a new painting with drawing and first layers of paint. sometimes I feel like stopping right there! had the fun, it's fresh and new, so I'll contemplate and enjoy it for a while before I continue ;-)

When is a painting done? I always say it's done when I start believing what I see.. and it wasn't different with this work. As it was developing it moved through the usual creative steps which I think is not new to the creatives: excitement, play, joy at being busy with the stuff, looking, thinking, wondering, doubt, disappointment, despair, rejection, recklessness, doggedness, keeping on keeping on, standing back, thinking, hoping, looking, thinking, relaxing, tweaking, seeing, believing, little more tweaking, then stop and look, I might even be in love a little :-)

and how typical... starting to doubt everything about the work.. colour, shapes, orientation and subject matter, and feeling the need to 'start over' and cover the whole thing in gesso.. trying to find 'worthiness', looking desperately for something to hold back the 'destroy' urge

inner thoughts telling me 'it's always good to give it time, turn it to face the wall for a while.. might even take it to the mirror for an inverted look. sometimes there's a surprise there'

How hard can it be to start a new painting? Hard, I tell you, when you're all painted out and with nothing more to say. Then the loyal painter will turn up at the easel, squeeze out, grab a tool and get busy. Well, that's what I did today, with the added freedom I allowed myself of "no rules, no regulations, no theory, no nothing" just an open palette, an open mind and an open canvas ready to receive with thanks and no complaints. So today there were no "ugly, mistake, wrong, poor, weak, purposeless" in the vocabulary and slowly on my easel something happened - this totally free, uncomplicated, unplanned, un-overthought and -overworked song started to find a voice. I'd stopped thinking, intuitively scrubbing in colour and just enjoying the freedom I gave myself. I'm now convinced (anew) that it's all about the process of making, with me just turning up. That's all that's needed. Simple.

Sometimes life takes interesting turns and this new year has me excited about a couple of creative things. I feel strongly that my life was plotted out long before my birth and that I'm slowly, piece by piece, making decisions and discovering the puzzle that was always there. Like a Wasgij? :-)

There is this CS50 course that has just started online - so lo and behold I'm studying Computer Science at Harvard this year, sitting comfortably in my studio in Auckland, New Zealand. MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) is an exciting way of dipping these old toes in unfamiliar waters.

Also excited about the NZ Art Journal swap organized by Cath Sheard for a small number of NZ artists. Each artist works on a double page spread, then send the art journal on like a round robin. At the end it is bound to be something out of this world. Here is the start of my one..

Working hard still on the rather large exhibition in Oxford NZ next month, but more about that in a next post.. In the…

..and suddenly another year has gone by, never to return again... catching me asking all sorts of questions about life being short and sweating the small stuff. Again. New year's resolutions? Pass. They don't work. But I do feel like chopping and changing my pattern though, such as spending more time on here..